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August 22, 2007

Texas 30, Baltimore 3 (Not A Typo)

Texas is the first team in the modern era (after 1900) to score 30 runs in one game. (And all the runs came in four innings -- box!)

It was the ninth time a major league team has scored 30 runs, the first since Chicago set the all-time record in a 36-7 rout of Louisville in a National League game on June 29, 1897. The previous post-1900 record for runs in a game was 29 shared by the Boston Red Sox (1950) and the Chicago White Sox (1955). (The Rangers' previous high had been 26 runs, also against Baltimore on April 19, 1996 (26-7).)

(One of the very few times a team has scored in every inning! Also, the game was played in Chicago, but the Colts (later the Cubs) had the option of batting first, which they did.)

With nine runs in the nightcap, the Rangers set an AL record with 39 runs in a single day. The major league record is 43: Boston beat Cincinnati 18-3 and 25-8 in an NL twinbill on August 21, 1894.

It reminds me of a minor league game on June 15, 1902: Corsicana beat Texarkana 51-3. (Justin Clarke hit eight home runs -- in eight consecutive at-bats.) Many newspapers got the wire report, assumed it was a typo, and reported the final score as 5-3.

Wes Littleton pitched the final three innings of the game, relieving Kason Gabbard (6-1 now, by the way)... In a 30-3 game, Littleton is credited with the save. Isn't that amazing? I knew about the save rule about pitching the final three innings in a win, but I had never seen it applied before tonight. Littleton certainly has a very unique way about getting his first save of the season. Second in his career.

What would've killed me if this had happened to the Sox is how they blew game two in the eighth inning. Had they held on, they could've said, Hey, we won one and we lost one, each game counts the same in the standings...